Deep among the Stars
by ultimatefandomfangirl
Summary: Arthur's wrath is a dangerous thing, to himself and to the realm he means to build. Post-magic reveal. Poetic/fairytale style. One shot. Angst and sadness. I wouldn't say it's a typical Hurt/Comfort but it's not a Tragedy either.


The sun rays pierced the stained glass windows of the throne room with a haze. Murmurs traveled across the throne room like the gusts of wind across the forest below the mountains. In a spark of fury, King Arthur Pendragon had summoned the whole of his court, nobles and servants alike. Then, in front of everybody, he had called forward his manservant, Merlin, and yelled and yelled about treason and magic, about betrayal and love and death sentences, and the boy had listened, steady as a statue, silent as the grave. The only hints of his distress had been the faint glimmering in his eyes and the water that had fallen upon his cheeks.

Queen Guinevere had stood beside her husband, her stare stern and unreadable, looking straight on the friend that had deceived her.

When King Arthur pronounced the death sentence and stopped shouting, silence fell on the room.

Time stretched,

and stretched

and stretched.

The boy looked up and said, his voice hoarse and unsteady.

"Do you hate me so much, My Lord?" he asked.

"Yes" Answered the king the most bitter voice any noble or servant had heard from him.

"Do you want me dead, My Lord?"

"I do." answered the king.

"Okay" Merlin answered "Okay… You can have it.

"What?"

"My life. But I'm sorry. For everything. "

As the king began to answer, the manservant's eyes became bright golden. The boy stretched his bound hands, and in a flash, the bindings fell to the floor, and magic flooded through the sorcerer's hands and brashed into the king's head. Both went flying to the floor, the magic flashed white and for a few moment, the whole court went blind.

When nobles and servants regained their sight, they saw Queen Guinevere knelt on her husband's still body and Gaius, the court physician, leaned upon his ward's frail body. Neither the king nor his manservant moved, and for a moment all that could be heard were Guinevere's restrained whimpers and Gaius' despairing murmurs.

"Gaius, what are you doing?" pleaded Guinevere, getting on her feet again. While still in shock, she had regained her queenly composure and her hard stare.

The physician stood up slowly even for his old age and faced his queen. When he spoke, his voice was grave and his tone was deep with worry.

"For all of our sakes you need pray for miracles to exist, otherwise I can safely say, My dear Lady, that this kingdom is already doomed. The unlikely has happened, that much is certain, and I'm sorry too."

The queen stared at him, her eyes wide open.

"The protector dies and the protectected lives", continued Gaius. "but not for long, that I can assure you. The king lives but the sorcerer dies, and none can live without the other.

"It is engraved deeply amongst the stars, a prophecy from the dawn of time, a prophecy every man of magic has known of and this prophecy is that none can complete his destiny without the other. If you are kin to the king's heart, my fair Lady, then Merlin is kin to the king's life. One side of a coin cannot be without the other, but alas it seems it has come to pass and now the remaining side is without meaning. There is therefore an unbalance in the course of this world you cannot imagine."

"What, what imbalance?" cried the queen, almost in anger, glancing quickly to her husband. "What has he done to him, what has he done to your king?"

Gaius looked at her in anger and disbelief. The old man took his time, and searched for the right words.

"By the divine laws of sacrifice, Merlin has given his life to the gods in exchange for sharing his soul with the Once and Future King, My Lady. He made the choice of Life against Truth. You need hope that shall the warlock pass over the veil, his legacy will be enough for the king to carry on without him, to finish what needs be done. Otherwise I fear, Gaius said gravely , "that our world is now compromised. To give his memories to the king, the boy teared his soul apart, twisted, ripped it in two, and gave one piece to his king. I do not know if you ever had to mend a soul in your maiden years My Queen, but I can tell you this; it cannot be done."

The words hanged over the room like hundreds of glass shards waiting to come down on them and shatter. The physician turned his back on the queen and held Merlin's body in his arms, as a father would for his son.

Then the King woke up.

His eyes were wide and wild. He looked everywhere, at his wife, at the court, at Gaius, and at the boy, Merlin. His crown was left on the floor as he struggled and stumbled down the steps where the royal seats were and went to his manservant's side, in panic. Queen Guinevere made a step as to follow him but decided against it, because Camelot should always have a royal and if her husband wasn't in a condition to be one, she would be for them both.

When king Arthur reached Merlin, took Gaius place and Gaius let him do it because he knew he wasn't the king anymore. In this very moment, The Once and Future King was nothing more than Arthur, who was barely a young man and couldn't contain his worry for a friend he'd just casted away.

"Merlin, Merlin you idiot!" he said, repeating the sentence a few times.

Merlin didn't answer

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, look I said it, you can wake up now!" he pleaded.

He took Merlin's face in his hands and looked at his friend, really, looked at him whole, like he was laying eyes upon him for the first time and yet like he'd seen him a thousand times.

" Take your bloody soul back and wake up. I get it now. I GET IT!" the king shouted.

His last words bounced off the walls. Arthur put his hands to his calf, and then to Merlin's, and did it again, and again, and again, but nothing happened. Against all odds, because kings weren't supposed to cry in front of their court, King Arthur buried his face in Merlin's neckerchief and let his tears fall in silence. He was angry, not against Merlin but against himself. He'd been a fool, and Merlin had given up his life, his chance to escape just so he, the mad king, might be able to fulfill his destiny alone.

His father's beliefs had been a lie. Merlin was the good sorcerer and he was the evil king.

King Arthur laid eyes upon Merlin's face. With the boy's soul inside his head, he could see everything they had done together from Merlin's point of vue. He could look into his mind and find Merlin's memories as well as his own. He remembered their first encounters and knew now that Merlin had been talking about magic. He recalled the time when Merlin bid him farewell because he had traded his life for Arthur's. The memories were overwhelming and he had to shut them down, because those memories meant Merlin was dying, actually dying, and Arthur knew now that sentencing someone to death wasn't quite the same thing as witnessing death, at looking at someone's traits and knowing they were dying.

But because the world is full of surprises, and sometimes things happen that we can't explain and so we call them miracle, Merlin's eye flew open, bright gold and confused. Arthur looked back, stupefied, and then laughed and laughed and hugged and kissed his manservant like they were alone and causing a scene all over again but it was fine. Miracles were beautiful, Camelot would be safe, Merlin would be fine and together, just the two of them against the world, they would be fine.

- THE END -

Author's notes: Comments are always appreciated. It may have errors, I didn't have a beta-reader because I wrote it on the corner of the table and really, it was just a story for myself at first. I Just thought I would share it with you.


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